Throughout November, our restaurants - The Blue Elephant Trail (7 South Main Street, West Hartford) and The Elephant Trail (85 East Main Street, Avon) - will be raising funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.pancan.com), by offering special menu items from November 16-23 and holding a cooking class on the last day, Sunday, November 23.

We do this to honor the memory of our general manager and beloved sister Sohors Tek, who lost her battle to pancreatic cancer in September 2012.

As a way to celebrate her life, we are donating 30% of sales on Sohors' favorite menu items. She always had a sweet tooth, and so the drinks on Sohors' favorite menu are Thai iced tea, Bluefeld reisling, and the Blue Elephant cocktail (West Hartford only). In addition, her favorite dessert of mango sticky rice will also be included, as well as two of her favorite dinners - chili salmon and loc lac.

The first restaurant she opened with our brother Soden, the Elephant Trail in Avon, moved to a new location - a dream Sohors and Soden had together, and one she sadly never got to see happen. Please join us in celebrating her life and vision, and her role as a fixture in our community.

"We hope to honor Sohors' memory by eating her favorite foods this month," says Executive Chef Soden Tek. "Her dream was always to repay this Connecticut community with our food and friendship, in the same way our family was welcomed and nurtured here. Although she is gone, we hope our friends will join us and share her favorite foods. In a way, it helps her live on."

"In addition to menu specials, we will host a cooking class in our kitchen to raise funds for research," says Brian Keo, General Manager of The Elephant Trail. "It keeps with Sohors' desire to not only serve our friends and family, but teach our recipes and share our story. Of 100 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, only 6 will be alive in 5 years. We want to do our part in raising awareness and supporting the community of patients and families."

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is a nationwide network of people dedicated to working together to advance research, support patients and create hope for those affected by pancreatic cancer. We hope our contribution will help advance research, and most importantly provide comfort to patients and their families in times of need.